Practical budget
What you’re actually paying for.
Start with where it runs. That might be a computer you already own or a rented server. Owning the hardware gets you past the purchase price; it doesn’t remove power, maintenance, replacement, or your time. Put zero in the hardware box if that fits your situation. Just know what the zero leaves out.
Next comes model access. A subscription and API usage are separate costs; what your plan covers depends on the service. Coding, research, images, and transcription can add usage quickly. Decide what you are willing to spend and use spending controls where the provider supports them. “It probably won’t cost much” is not a budget.
Then account for hosting, messages, scheduled work, and backups. This site is mostly static, and the calculator runs in your browser. It does not need a model call to add numbers. An agent doing other work may need more infrastructure. Pay for what the job needs and write down how to restore it when the machine stops cooperating.
MCP connectors let an agent use tools and services through a shared interface. They can connect useful things such as calendars, files, code repositories, and databases. They can also introduce subscriptions, paid seats, API charges, and permissions somebody has to understand. Check whether you need the connector before paying to maintain it. Sometimes a local command already does the job.
Security and recovery belong in the calculation too. Depending on the setup, that might mean security keys, a backup drive, or better power and network protection. The important part is knowing where the working files and recovery instructions are, and whether a restore actually works. Buying the drive is easier than answering that last question.
Before making something run all day, ask how often it needs to run. Before automating a step, ask whether the step needs to exist. Keeping an occasional task manual can be the right decision. The point is to get useful work done at a cost you understand, including the time you spend looking after it.
The example MCP-ready preset adds up to $563 to start, $165 a month, and $2,543 for the first year. Those are editable assumptions, not current vendor quotes or a claim about what you need to spend. Remove what you already own, change the estimates, and tell me what I missed.